For twenty years efforts were made to finance construction of a tram line though were unsuccessful.

In 1925, the city council approved financing for the construction of a tram line connecting the town of Mariupol to the adjacent Azovstal Iron and Steel Works across the Kalmius River.

During construction, the city newspaper "Pryazovsky Proletar" often wrote about the progress of the works: difficulties with building materials and shortages of unskilled labor.

The first tram line connected Schmidt Harbor to the city center via Franka Street.

Before the breakout of the Siege of Mariupol the tram network had 12 routes (8 regular and 4 rush hour) and serviced 161 stops.

[3] On March 2, 2022, tram operations were suspended due to threats to personnel and riders during the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Siege of Mariupol.

In the course of the fighting and eventual takeover by the Russian Army, the infrastructure of the city suffered significant destruction.

On February 10, 2022, an official application for smartphones was launched in Mariupol, in which you can see the movement of public transport in real time.

Trams previously operational in Prague were repurposed and sent to Mariupol where they received model numbers 701–710.

In the lead up to the Siege of Mariupol there were only 6 working cars of the KTM-5 type left in tram depot No.

In 2017, in collaboration with PrivatBank, a project was implemented to pay for fares in public transport using a QR code through the "Privat24" application.